Sixx (The Stone Society, #7)

by Faith Gibson

  Sixx growled and turned his back on her. He would not allow his shifter to take over. Not yet. He bent down for his t-shirt and pulled it back over his head. When he felt he was in control enough to continue, Sixx turned back around and had a seat on the sofa. “Just like with a human, you have to agree to be my mate. Even though I technically sealed the bond when I bit you, I cannot consider you truly mine until you say the words. There’s so much you need to know before we get further into that discussion, though. I need to tell you some of our history and, more importantly, what’s happening between our Clan and our King’s uncle. There’s a good possibility we could be going to war in the near future. We also need to discuss our son.” Rae’s eyes snapped to his then.

  “Yes, Rae. Our son. There are no words that can describe the depth of my sorrow at missing out on Desi’s life. Your life. Our lives together. I’m sorry doesn’t come close to telling you how badly I feel for what you went through. Hell, I can’t begin to imagine what you endured all these years. If I’m being honest, I don’t want to know. I’m too selfish to want to hear the words and deal with your pain. But I will. I will listen as you tell me everything you’ve done, everything you’ve been through. I want to know each and every detail of your pregnancy, Desi’s birth. I want to see the pictures of him growing up. I need to know what I missed.”

  “I don’t think I can give you that,” Rae whispered. She sat back down in the chair opposite him. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to live through it all over again. The pain of living through it the first time was enough to... Let’s just say if I didn’t have Desi to keep me going every day, I might not be here right now.”

  Sixx felt as if someone stabbed him through the heart. She had. Her honest feelings of desolation were worse than anything he thought she could have said. “Rae,” he started, but she held up her hand.

  Sad Rae disappeared and clearly pissed off Rae was back. “I’m over it now, so let’s talk about this war you mentioned. I rarely leave my house anymore, so I doubt I’m in too much danger. But Desi’s out there. Every night he is out among thousands of fans. Any of who could get to him. I need to call him. I need to...”

  “Rae, stop.” Sixx moved from the sofa and knelt in front of her chair. He knew it was a mistake before he did it. Still, he pulled her hands into his. Being this close to his mate was pure torture, but the feel of her soft skin beneath his fingers also brought a feeling of rightness to his soul. A feeling he hadn’t felt in over five hundred years. The feeling of home. Sixx took a deep breath and was assaulted by her scent. Oh, fuck. Rae was turned on, and her arousal was calling to him. He wanted nothing more than to rip her panties off and bury his mouth in the sweet taste of her pussy. The way she tasted was embedded in his senses. Never had a female come close to tasting and smelling as divine as his mate. Tamping down the need coursing through his body to his throbbing dick, he continued, “I have someone looking into Desi’s security as we speak. Our Clan is large and has many connections. He will be watched over.”

  Rae nodded her head and let out a sigh. Coffee mixed with whatever Rae had eaten earlier hit Sixx’s nostrils. One wouldn’t think coffee breath would be enticing, but coming from his mate, anything made his dick stand up and take notice. Stupidly, he focused on her lips. When her tongue snaked out, licking first the top lip then curling down to moisten the bottom, Sixx groaned. He closed his eyes to avoid any unnecessary temptation and pushed up from his feet to stand. He counted on his self-control to take him to the other side of the room. What he didn’t count on was his mate’s lips finding his.

  Chapter Eleven

  Desirae couldn’t stop herself from leaning into Michael’s body. Pressing their lips together. When he rocked back on his feet to stand, she snaked an arm around his neck, holding him in place. His body was calling to her like a siren’s song. One that couldn’t be denied. For twenty-four years, she had shored up her defenses. Built a wall around her heart that she vowed would never be breached by Michael Gentry in the event he ever sought her out. What a fricking joke. Forget the fact he’d proven to her he wasn’t human. Somehow that made him that much more appealing. The ultimate bad boy. As long as he was across the room sitting on the sofa, she had been able to resist going to him. Even though her panties were wet and she ached between her legs, she resisted the undeniable pull he had on her. Maybe it was a shifter thing. He had some super power that sent waves of want through her body. She didn’t remember it being this strong.

  As soon as Michael closed the distance and placed his hands on hers, all bets were off. Her brain was screaming at her to stay the course. Remain strong. Yeah, right. The second she felt him getting ready to retreat to his corner, Desirae had to do something to keep him engaged. So, ignoring her brain, she leaned in and kissed him. The electric current that ignited as soon as their mouths engaged was shocking. What was even more shocking was finding herself sitting there with her eyes closed and no lips pressed to hers. She opened her eyes to find Michael on the other side of the room, chest heaving, hand braced on the wall. If she didn’t feel he was trying to hold back from attacking her, she might have been hurt.

  “Michael, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t apologize. It’s the mate bond. The pull between a Gargoyle and his mate is automatic. You can’t help the way you feel. All you can do is either go with it or learn to resist it. You’ll need to get used to it when I’m around.”

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing you won’t be around. It all makes sense now. Why someone like you would want someone like me.” Talk about a slap to the ego. Desirae knew she was on the skinny side and her boobs were small. She barely needed a B cup. But damn. She’d been told she was pretty by more than one man, but now she understood why a man as hot as Michael wanted her. He didn’t have a choice.

  “Don’t you even, Desirae. I’ll spank your ass if I hear one more word about someone like you. For months, I followed you around like a fucking dog chasing a bone. Months before I ever sat at your table at the diner, I watched your every move. Fuck, if you’d ever caught wind of how much I was in your space, you’d have called the police on me for stalking you.” It was his turn to pace the small room. He’d stalked her?

  The doorbell rang, interrupting their discussion. Desirae peeked through the curtains to find another floral truck parked at the curb. “More flowers,” she spoke aloud for Michael’s benefit. She didn’t bother looking through the peephole before opening the door. Her smile faltered when the same man from the last few days presented her with a vase of red roses. There had to be two dozen. “What the hell?” She wasn’t expecting the driver to answer, because her question hadn’t been aimed at him. She was asking the man who was no longer standing in her living room.

  “Miss Rothchild, how are you today?” the sweet older man asked. She was about to answer him, not so honestly, when his eyes darted back and forth. If Desirae didn’t know better, she would swear he was nervous.

  “Is everything okay?” Desirae asked.

  The man’s face quickly returned to his normal smile. “Perfectly fine, my dear. Perfectly fine.” His voice was barely above a whisper. Okay. This was getting weird. She took the vase from him and did her best not to inhale the scent of the flowers. She hated the way roses smelled.

  “Thank you. Again,” she said before moving back to close the door. He tipped his invisible hat as he always did. Desirae kept the door cracked as the driver strode down the sidewalk. Before he reached the van, he turned around and looked toward her house.

  As soon as she was inside, Michael reappeared and asked, “What the fuck?”

  His tone startled her, considering he was the one who’d been sending her flowers all week long. At least, she assumed they were from him. “You haven’t been sending me plants?”

  He took the flowers from her and carried them into the kitchen. He sat the vase on the counter long enough to move the surfboard away from the door so he could open
it. “Yes, but not these. You hate roses.” He remembered. Desirae’s heart fluttered in her chest. She had to tamp that shit down and quick.

  Michael searched through the red buds, probably searching for the plastic stick. Before she could stop him, he pulled the flowers from the vase and tossed them in the garbage can outside. He closed the door and locked it, then, as naturally as if he lived there, Michael dumped the water into the sink and placed the now empty vase on top of her refrigerator. As he was washing his hands to remove the scent of the roses, he said, “I called the florist this morning and cancelled today’s order, knowing I’d be bringing you your surfboard. Someone is probably going to be pissed that their two dozen roses were delivered to the wrong person.”

  “Are you thirsty?” she blurted out. She needed a distraction. Seeing Michael do something as sweet as getting rid of the flowers she hated was softening her resolve. That one small act reminded her why she’d fallen in love with him in the first place. He was as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside. She couldn’t have that. Desirae needed to keep those walls in place. He was here to talk, nothing more. She would listen and send him on his merry hot-as-frick shapeshifter way. “I know it’s early in the day, but it’s five o’clock somewhere, right?” Now she was rambling. It was something she did when she was nervous. She shouldn’t be nervous, but then again she’d just been told – no, shown – that her ex-lover, the father of her child, was a five-hundred-year-old shapeshifter.

  And he was still as sweet as ever.

  Frick.

  “I’ll have a beer,” he said from across the room. He was keeping his distance. That was probably for the best. Being close hadn’t worked out so well. She pulled two longnecks out of the fridge and started rummaging through the utensil drawer for her bottle opener. “Here, I’ll get them,” Michael said, twisting the caps off the bottles as if they weren’t hermetically sealed.

  “So I take it your superhero body comes with special powers?” Desirae had meant it as a joke, but Michael nodded.

  “Yes. Males of our species have extra-thick skin that is, for all intents and purposes, impenetrable. Hearing, sight, smell, those senses are heightened. Most Gargoyles have the ability to read someone’s emotions just by being in close proximity. I can tell by your heart rate whether you’re excited, nervous, agitated, turned on.” He paused and took a pull off his beer. The way his throat moved as he swallowed was so fricking sexy.

  “Rae,” he chastised.

  “Sorry. You were saying?” She wasn’t sorry. It wasn’t her fault he was a fricking god.

  “We are extra fast and super strong as well.”

  “You have wings, so I take it you can fly?” That’s something she’d love to see.

  “Yes. We don’t get to take to the skies as often as we used to. Before technology advanced as far as it has, we were able to fly during the day under cover of clouds. If someone saw us, we could explain it away as being a large bird or an airplane in the distance. Now, we have to be careful.”

  “Will you live forever?” Desirae didn’t want to think about growing old without him. It kind of made sense why he stayed away. He’d continue on in his superhero body, and she’d fade away, leaving him alone.

  “We can only be killed a couple of ways. As for dying, it is possible for Gargoyles to will themselves to pass on to the other side. Females of our kind are almost extinct. They don’t have the special skin or wings, so they are more susceptible to human conditions. Once a male has lost his female, he might also lose the will to live without her. So, unless I lose my head, am poisoned, or my mate passes before I do, I’ll be around quite a while.”

  His mate. She was his mate, if he was telling her the truth. “But I’m human, so won’t I die sooner or later?”

  “Everyone dies eventually, but you will live a long life. Even if you don’t accept the mate bond, I stopped the aging process when I bit you. Don’t get me wrong; you can be killed. But you will not die of old age for an extremely long time.”

  Rae didn’t know how to feel about that. Not that she was going to let Michael back into her life, but hypothetically, if she did, she would want to be with him as long as possible. On the other hand, she wouldn’t want to go on if something were to happen to Desi. “What about Desi?”

  “He’s a half-blood. When he meets his mate, he will transition into a Gargoyle and will have an extended lifespan as well.”

  “Say what?” Her son was going to be one of those... not monsters. That was the wrong word. Michael Gentry might shift into something else, but he was no monster. When he... what had he called it? Phasing? Yes, when he phased, his appearance changed somewhat, but it was still clearly him and not some furry animal. He had called it being a shifter, so she’d stick with that. “Desi’s going to be a shifter?”

  “Yes. It’s why I need to talk to him. Explain what will happen when he finds his mate. Let him know what changes he will go through. He’ll be brought into the Clan as one of us.”

  “Huh.” Desirae tossed back her beer, downing most of it. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and sat down at the kitchen table. Hard. She slid down in the seat and closed her eyes. Maybe if she sat there long enough, she’d wake up and realize this was all another crazy-assed dream.

  “Rae.”

  Nope. Not a dream. That voice was too good to be a dream. She cracked her eyes open and found Sixx frowning. Not a good look on him. Actually, any look on her ex-lover was a good look, but she didn’t want to see him frowning. “This is all just a little much to deal with, you know? I guess I need to get in touch with Desi and find out when he can come home.”

  “Speaking of home, I don’t want to rush you or put any pressure on you, but I’d really like for you to considering moving into my home.”

  “I’m not moving across the country.” She’d lived in California her whole life. She wasn’t going to move away from the ocean now.

  “I have a house here, Doll. Up in New Malibu. It has a great view of the ocean. We can strap our boards on the Jeep and be surfing in fifteen minutes. Or, there’s a smaller house for sale right on the beach. Whichever you prefer.”

  “How long have you had a house here?” Desirae wasn’t sure why that mattered, but for some reason it did. Had he been living here all along but hadn’t reached out to her? If he loved her as much as he said he did, he would have at least been curious.

  “I bought it several years ago when it was listed under foreclosure. Like I mentioned earlier, I purchase properties for the Clan, so when I see a bargain, I go for it. This house happened to be in a great location overlooking Broad Beach, so I kept it for myself. I’ve always hoped to move back here, and now, let’s just say if things go the way I hope they do, I’ll be living there for the next thirty years or so.”

  “If you’re immortal, why only thirty years?”

  “It’s hard to stay in one place and remain young-looking without someone eventually noticing. Thirty years is about as long as any of us have managed, outside of our King. He has been able to keep himself fairly hidden until recently.”

  Rae knew all too well how hard it was to stay in one place. At least now she knew she didn’t really have a condition. There was nothing wrong with her other than she had a non-human ex-lover who was claiming her as his mate. Her son was one of these non-humans. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. He was still human until he met his mate. “How will Desi know when he meets his own mate? How does that work?”

  “When you’re in the presence of your mate, you want them with a need that surpasses anything you’ve ever felt before. You have no choice but to heed the call. Like when I bit you. He will need to be aware of anytime he feels out of sorts. Sick for no apparent reason. The obvious way will be when he transitions for the first time. For full-bloods, it’s painful, but we are taught from birth what to expect. I’ve heard from another half-blood that the pain for them is excruciating. Desi will want to be aware of the signs, the all-out lust, the nausea, the
jealousy. When he feels those things, even if he isn’t sure who has caused it, he’ll need to get somewhere safe. I’d prefer it be with me so I can help him through his phasing.”

  “Crap. I really need to call him. I saw your picture from the restaurant. I’m sure by now, Desi has, too. Cynthia, the band’s publicist, monitors social media closely.”

  “I’m sorry if my actions have caused any hardship for our son, Rae.”

  Desirae knew Michael was sincere. When they were together before, he’d been the kindest, most gentle man she’d ever met. Outside the bedroom. Inside, now that was another story. He rocked her fricking world. She doubted if he’d changed much over the years. The kind of goodness he had inside him didn’t just go away. “We’ve talked about you. Over the years, he’s asked questions that I couldn’t answer. I don’t think he’s going to accept you into his life right away.”

  “What exactly have you told him?”

  “The truth. You left. Cut all ties, and I had no way of getting in touch with you.”

  Michael bowed his head and closed his eyes. His fists were clenching at his side. Desirae left him alone. If he was pissed for her telling Desi the truth as she knew it, he would just have to get over it. When he raised his head, she could swear his eyes were wet. Did big alpha non-humans cry?

  “Rae.”

  Oh, god. There was so much torment in that one word. She wanted so badly to go to him, but she couldn’t allow it. If she did, she had no doubt they’d end up in her bed. She could not go there. She pushed away from the table. “I’m going to call him. I’ll be right back.” Desirae left Michael standing in the kitchen to deal with his emotions. She couldn’t help him get them in check, because nothing she could say would change the past. Sure, she could tell him it was okay, but it wasn’t. Not by a longshot.